Social awareness through new media is a relatively new concept, but it is something that has proved to be successful for Raindropss, an NGO consisting of Chennai-based 20 somethings.
Started by Aravind J, Raindropss uses theme songs, videos and short films to spread awareness about social issues.
Their first short film, Vizhigal, bagged the prestigious ‘Silver Eye Award’ for its powerful social message about eye donation and their recent fundraiser concerts ‘Isai Sangamam’ in August and ‘The musical journey of A R Rahman’ here on Sunday helped sponsor 51 orphaned children’s education for the current academic year, as part of their ‘Educate a Child’ project.
The NGO has also bagged the Dr Ambedkar Award by the Mother Teresa Trust, the TedEX Star Award and the BIG Chennaiite award.
“I started Raindropss after Vizhigal won the Silver Eye award. It was very well received and this format of short films and theme songs was such a big hit with the people of my generation that I thought we could do more about it,” he says. Raindropss has 10 youngsters as its core team, all juggling their full-time jobs as IT professionals, filmmakers and others to pitch in at Raindropss. Aravind himself is a HR professional. “Through Vizhigal, we have helped 200 register at private hospital as eye donors. In addition, we also came up with theme songs for World Disability Day and our current project ‘Educate a Child’. A R Rahman’s sister A R Raihanah, is our brand ambassador and she helped organise our fundraisers,” Aravind adds.
Their future projects include tying up with several organisations for awareness campaigns about helmets and eye donation camps. “We have been approached by a few organisations to pitch in with our style of spreading social messages through networking. We will definitely take it up,” said Aravind.